Passlabs Aleph 1.2 with CJ Tube 17LS/16LS Preamp

John_l,
Restating what I said previously, I agree that if you are looking for bass slam there are many better choices other than the Pass Aleph amps. A good example would be a Plinius amp. They have such an iron-fisted quality that is almost shocking in their impact. But, having owned a Plinius, I know that, even when just considering the quality of these two amps in the bass alone, the Aleph will give you far less slam, but much more extended, much more tuneful bass than will a Plinius. Considering the McCormack DNA 1: Yes, it has much more bass slam than the Aleph series, but if you audition both side-by-side with speakers and electronics which do a good job of reproducing the entire frequency range, I think you will find that there are few amps if any which exceed the Pass Alephs, particularly the larger ones, in bass extension. Then, when you look at these amps in their entirety, versus the McCormack DNA 1, for example, with regard to high frequency extension and detail, soundstage and neutrality, I don't believe you could rate the McCormack in the same league with the Pass Aleph. I am not disparaging the McCormack. It is a very good amp and an excellent buy when you take into account its price point. But as good as it is, it is an amp built to a price point. IMO, the Alephs are built to compete with the best available, even if they don't offer the best bass slam in the business.

Hey Rayhall,

I think we are in complete agreement on the mccormack verses the alephs. I have owned both alephs and the mccormack. My Mccormack was a hotrodded dna reva/partial gold. It was a great amp. I would take it over any amp on the market except for the alephs. The alephs are the best solid state I have heard. They just have a greater purity if sound than anything I have heard. Every other solid state amp I have listened to has a little 'haze', or worse, a 'processed' sound to it (you know, like an emmylous harris album). The alephs are just pure undistorted sound with walt-disney class holography. I've heard krells, s
pectral, levinson and all. I prefer the alephs to any of them. Just my taste !

On the topic of matching a warm tube pre to these amps. I hooked up my aleph 2's to my avanti centuries last night. I first listened with the aleph P mk2 preamp for a little while. Unbelievable detail but still liquid sounding. If you told me it was a super accurate tube amp playing, I would have believed you.

I swapped in my pre-warmed NOS tubed BAT vk-5i (New sovtec 5881gxc w/ rca nos tubes). The sound was dramatically different. A little smoother, but at a fairly sizable loss of transparency. It seemed that the high frequencies were quite a bit more rounded. It was very easy to prefer the aleph P with the aleph preamps. I felt that the soundstage became quite a bit more rounded. It definitely wasn't a great match. The BAT sounds wonderful with the vt100, but 'just ok' with the alephs. The aleph P was much much better.

Cabling was nordost quattro-fil, spm speaker cable and sony SCD-1 SACD player. It didn't surprise me that this is the setup that Sony used to demo SACD. (with their own crappy speakers of course)

To eat my own words, the bass was quite spectacular. For some reason the avanti-centuries DO display greater bass authority with the aleph 2's than the vt100. I am using different cabling, a different cd player. The vt100 also has svet kt88s in it now instead of 6550's. If I recall, the major difference in bass could be heard with my old mg 1.6QR's moreso than the virgo's. The alephs have unbelievable speed. The tube equipment seems to be swimming in molasses by comparison.

Very interesting Rayhall & John_1:
No, I'm not looking for the last word in bass slam etc. What I'm looking for is overall completeness, i.r. attack, growth of the tone, and decay, all of which are plenty in abundance of a SET(tube)amp. But, the SET doesn't have the extended bandwidth of the Alephs. I'm also looking for holographic imaging, and am a soundstaging freak. I was told my people from KimberKable that using their Kimber Select KS3033 cable instead of the much touted BifocalXL would give me more body, bigger soundstage etc. Is this a fact? I was thinking of considering either the Cardas "Golden cross" or "golden Ref" as speaker cables with my B&W 801/802s. Appreciate your inputs.

Arupg,

I have a friend who biwires his Kimber Select 3033 from his Aleph 4 to his Vandersteen 3. He uses KS 3033 on the treble and Kimber 4TC on the bass. His preamp is Audible Illusions Modulus 3 (not 3A) and his source is Micromega transport and Forte DAC. Introduction of the KS 3033 significantly improved the musicality of his system and lowered the dynamics from superb to excellent. Treble was more extended and more prominent without being too bright.
My system is quite similar: Vandersteen 3A Signature, Aleph 4, CAT Ultimate and I was using his Bow ZZ-Eight at the time for digital. We both use Kimber PBJ between CD/DAC and Pre and JPS Superconductor 1 between Pre and Power and I normally use a shotgunned biwire Kimber 4TC for speaker cable. When I tried his Kimber KS-3033, it absolutely did not work, so my feeling is that use of this cable is highly system dependent. You won't know unless you try. I think that at least for my taste as well as my friend's, we both found the KS-3033 to be a bright cable, particularly when fitted with the WBT connectors and with less bass than would be neutral. That is why he used it only for the treble. It improved the balance of his system which was a little bass heavy.

As far as whether the Aleph will suit you, I don't know. I think you need an audition. Some say they are quite tube-like (as far as solid state goes). I am not a tube man, so I don't relate to that designation. They have no solid-state nasties. They are certainly never, ever bright. If anything, they are laid back. Overall, I haven't heard a more complete amp, but certainly there are many that I haven't heard. It might be a good combo with the B&W's which I find a little bright. Your CJ might tame the system even more. If you can, go audition before you buy and let us know what you think.

Hello Rayhall:
Thanks for the input on the KS3033. I suspected that they could get a bit on the bright side as Kimber claims more air, & more air! Maybe, Cardas either "golden cross" or "Golden Ref" make be the cable for me then. As regards to the Aleph1.2s, yes, I wanted an amp without the usual solidstate nasties (which is the odd-order distortions). How do you feel about your CAT / Aleph 4 marriage, esp considering the low input imp of the Alephs and the fairly high output imp of tube preamps.